Mark Watches ‘Monster’: Episode 39 – The Hell in His Eyes

In the thirty-ninth episode of Monster, we see the aftermath of Johan’s attack on the library. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Monster. 

Trigger Warning: For brief talk of death, trauma.

Hi, friends. 

Thank you.

Thanks for your patience and allowing me the time to do a lot of necessary things. I saw many of your names in the register for the GoFundMe for Baize’s family, as well as for me, too. I appreciate the support y’all have given me. I said this on Twitter a week or so ago, but I want to repeat it here. I don’t think I am even close to done dealing with this, and I know it may take the rest of my life to fully process this heartbreak, to accept this tragedy. But I think I’m ready to start to embrace some normalcy in my life. I wrote nearly 20,000 words while in Hawai’i between two new and exciting projects I hope to tell you about very soon. And I’ve just made my first video in weeks, and I didn’t have a breakdown during it.

So, progress. It’s there. And I think it’s time to come back.

I don’t plan on there being another interruption until the fall, when my second book comes out, so I’m jumping back in! I’ll have the schedule updated accordingly. And, because it is worth saying over and over again: I am so thankful for all of you. I have seen all your messages and kind words. You were all a light in a terrible, terrible darkness, and you will continue to be as I try to find out how to live without the love of my life. 

Here’s my first step.

The Hell in His Eyes

I love that this just jumps ahead to the aftermath of the attack, rather than picking up in the immediacy of of the previous episode. Johan’s attack killed five people and injured pretty much everyone else. Schuwald and Nina survived, thanks to Tenma’s efforts to save as many people as possible. But what’s most important is what these people do with what’s happened. Tenma is gone for all of “The Hell in His Eyes” until the final scene; we don’t see Johan once. Instead, the story brilliantly focuses on the the survivors and the new “team,” made up of Dr. Guillen and Dr. Reichwein. I love this shift, too, because Johan is starting to leave survivors behind, ones who are motivated, smart, and incredibly aware of just how talented and nightmarish he is. 

But before I get to them, I wanted to briefly talk about Detective Lunge, as I think I might have finally scene the pivot point for his character. One thing that has made Johan so hard to track or catch is the fact that he leaves virtually nothing behind except a dead body. And often, someone else actually killed that person, so there’s nothing to link any crime to Johan. Lunge is a character who operates entirely on information, something that has been built up over numerous appearances on Monster. (Again, I can’t get over how well this story uses detail over a long period of time; it’s astonishingly good.) So, what information does Lunge have on all these murders?

Well, as frustrating as it is, it’s not hard to see why he still suspects Tenma of everything. Seriously, if Tenma’s prints are found on that sniper rifle, it’s not going to look good. The only person who consistently leaves behind evidence of his presence in this case is Dr. Tenma. And yet, in this episode, Detective Lunge gets a huge nudge from Karl that pushes him to take Johan Liebert seriously as a person of interest. Despite that there was plenty of circumstantial evidence of Johan’s presence in town, Lunge is shocked to find that Johan left no literal evidence that he had lived in Munich. Y’all, is this disturbing enough that Lunge will actually consider Johan??? Because he’s clearly frustrated by Johan. Maybe “frustrated” isn’t the right word. Intrigued? Bothered? The word I’m looking for exists between a lot of these feelings, and I’m interested to see what he’s going to do next. 

SO! Let’s talk about the Reichwein/Guillen team. I’m pretty sure I’ve addressed this before, but if not: Johan’s victims have largely been isolated from one another. I believe that’s by design. It’s so much easier to manipulate and harm people when they’re by themselves, and in this case, the people who have crossed paths with Johan have repeatedly had to deal with the fact that no one would ever believe them if they told the truth. Except here are a bunch of people in the same city—Dieter, Lotte, Nina, Dr. Guillen, and Dr. Reichwein—who have all had some sort of experience with Johan. They can compare information. Both of the doctors bring their own expertise to the table.

But then there’s a huge question left behind: what the fuck do they do next? Johan and Tenma are gone; the police still suspect Tenma. So, I’m guessing that this is not the last time we’ll see sessions between Nina and Guillen/Reichwein, right? Nina has so much undealt-with trauma, y’all, and she is only just beginning to unmask it all. And at least she’s going to do so with professionals. Still! It’s so damn upsetting to watch her go through this. 

BECAUSE WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED TO HER AND JOHAN? Obviously, the answer to that is related to Schuwald’s message for Tenma. What is The Three Frogs? What’s the bridge? THEIR MOTHER IS STILL ALIVE IN PRAGUE??? What does the mom know that we don’t?Oh god, clearly Schuwald wanted Tenma to go find the truth, but this implies EVEN MORE than the last episode that Schuwald is far more knowledgable about Johan than we thought he was. WHAT THE FUCK. 

Will Nina and Dieter find Tenma, though? That poor kid, y’all. Tenma just keeps leaving him behind!!!

Anyway, this was A LOT. I loved that it also signified the next chapter of this story. I truly believe we’re about to delve in deep into Johan’s and Nina’s past, and I, for one, am incredibly nervous about that. I’m truly not ready.

The video for “The Hell in His Eyes” can be downloaded here for $0.99.

Mark Links Stuff

– The paperback edition of my debut, ANGER IS A GIFT, is now OUT! If you’d like to stay up-to-date on all announcements regarding my books, sign up for my newsletter! DO IT.